Scanned PDFs are essentially images — you can't select or copy the text. Smart OCR (Optical Character Recognition) analyses the image and extracts the text so it becomes editable and searchable. Here's how to do it for free.
OCR converts image-based text — from scanned documents, photographed receipts, or faxed contracts — into real, selectable, editable text. You need OCR when you receive a scanned PDF and want to copy content from it, search within it, or edit it.
Go to pdfeditor.onl/pdf-studio and upload your scanned PDF. The tool will render each page.
Select the OCR tool from the toolbar and click Scan Page (or Scan All Pages for multi-page documents). The AI engine analyses the image content and extracts readable text from each page.
Tip: OCR accuracy is highest on documents with clear, high-contrast black text on white backgrounds. Handwritten text or stylised fonts may have lower accuracy.
The extracted text appears as an editable overlay. You can copy it, correct any OCR errors using the Text tool, and then save the updated PDF with searchable text embedded.
OCR is optimised for printed text. Handwriting recognition is less reliable and depends on the clarity and consistency of the handwriting.
The OCR engine primarily supports Latin-script languages (English, French, German, Spanish, etc.) and is optimised for standard printed fonts.
Yes — OCR is included in PDF Studio at no cost, with no account or file size limits.